Process for recovery of residual ethylene from the production of vinylester-ethylene copolymers

摘要

A process for the production of vinyl ester and ethylene containing mixed polymers comprises recovery of the unreacted residual ethylene by compression to 2-20 bar absolute followed by absorption into the vinyl ester and reuse of the resulting mixture for polymerization. A process for the production of vinyl ester and ethylene containing mixed polymers comprises recovery of the unreacted residual ethylene by radically initiated polymerization of at least one vinyl ester, ethylene and optionally copolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated monomers at 5-100 bar absolute in an aqueous medium following emulsion or suspension polymerization whereby following termination of the polymerization the reaction mixture is decompressed to 0.1-5 bar absolute, the gas phase with the ethylene containing residual gas is compressed to 2-20 bar absolute followed by absorption into the vinyl ester and the resulting mixture is re-used in the polymerization.